LAUSANNE, Switzerland, June 19 - coach Marco van Basten has tried to cover all bases in case Netherlands go to penalties in Saturday Euro 2008 quarter-finals with Russia in Basel.
In their last seven major international tournaments in the Netherlands have lost four times on penalties, will not end until the gap when they beat Sweden in the last eight at Euro 2004.
But Van Basten has made sure that his players are well prepared for the prospect of a shootout, with the team practicing spot-kicks from the moment they began to warm up for the tournament last month.
"I have five names (for a shootout) already in mind," Van Basten told a press conference on Thursday.
The Dutch lifted the trophy Championship of Europe in 1988, beating the Soviet Union in Munich 2-0 thanks to goals from Van Basten and Ruud Gullit.
The Russia are also supervised by a Dutchman, Guus Hiddink traveled widely.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
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